Stuart Chandler

The Good Karma Hospital series two returns to tropical South India as the formidable Dr Lydia Fonseca (Amanda Redman) and her team face new challenges. What will the next eight episodes have in store?

It’s a year since Ruby Walker first arrived in Kerala, looking for a job and a distraction from her heartbreak. Ruby is now settled in India, and Lydia feels it’s time for her apprentice to step up and take on more responsibility.

Series two will see Ruby deepen her understanding of India, her new home. An outreach clinic to a tea plantation will allow Ruby to make surprising connections to her Indian family and to understand where she’s from and where it is that she belongs.

Ruby will also move closer to Dr Gabriel Varma. Their sparky working relationship becoming something more. But as they navigate their changing feelings for each other, Ruby must decide if she’s ready for a new romance.
Lydia’s relationship with Greg hits a rocky patch when Greg jokingly mentions marriage and Lydia’s reaction suggests they might not be in the same place. It leaves them wondering what the future holds for them.

Series Two of The Good Karma Hospital will see our team’s dedication, skills, resourcefulness and their professional and personal relationships put to the test. They will only get through these challenges by coming together to work as a team. Lydia, Ruby, and the rest of the Good Karma crew will come to understand that, through good times and bad, they can always rely on each other.

We caught up with star Amanda Redman.

What’s it like to be back in Sri Lanka (where the show is filmed)?
I love Sri Lanka. It’s a beautiful country, with beautiful people and incredible food. It’s a real joy to work onthis show. At the beginning of the shoot we had a welcome party when we first arrived back with all the SriLankan crew, (who were the same as last year), and they welcomed us back with huge smiles and flungtheir arms around us. It was wonderful, just joyful.

Series one was such a huge hit with viewers, were you surprised by how much it resonated with the UK audience?
It’s one of those things I think that one never knows how the work is going to be received. You get a script and you sign up because you think it’s good, but you haven’t got a clue whether that will go down well with audiences. It’s always so fabulous when it does because you feel exonerated more than anything else, your instinct was right. You try not to think about it because we actors are a superstitious lot so it’s best not to think about it doing well and when it does happen it’s a lovely surprise. The fact this series was so popular is just terrific.
What did surprise me was the demographic of the people who loved it. I was really surprised by the amount of butch men who would come to me saying, “You’re killing me; I’m loving it and crying every single week.”

Why do you think it’s important for drama to touch on issues such as surrogacy and domestic abuse as well as keeping a light-hearted side to the show?
I believe that all drama should be truthful. I’m not interested in stuff that isn’t truthful and these heavy storylines that we’re dealing with is what happens here and all over the world. But you do have to keep in mind that this is a Sunday night show. I think truthfully, in the most hideous of circumstances, people will always laugh. That’s the way you deal with tragedy and so it’s finding that balance. I hope that we got that right in the first series and I hope that we get it right in the second.

What do you think makes this show so special?
I think what makes The Good Karma Hospital special is the world it’s set in. The fact it’s set in India, the colour, the beautiful light, the people, the stories, it’s such a vibrant and rich world. I think that if you’re sitting in the front room, in front of the fire on a Sunday night in March, you see this and think there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It brightens everything up!

The Good Karma Hospital is on ITV, Sunday night at 9pm

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